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'Rust Spot' in Los Angeles: A brief history and a review

LOS ANGELES--It was exactly a decade ago, in February of 2000, that artist Gabe Lanza approached the Historic Third Ward Association and received permission to use a warehouse at 342 N. Broadway (the building Good Harvest will soon vacate) for a one-night only Gallery Night exhibition. Harvey Opgenorth and other young, emerging artists participated. The artists named the show "Rust Spot." Nate Page, then a Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design senior, came to that first "Rust Spot," along with about 2,000 other people,. He then arranged to create a collaborative installation in the space as well for the following summer Gallery Night. By the fall, artist Sara Daleiden was involved. Afterwards, the trio became "Rust Spot" collaborators and started to create a very particular site-specific installation process.

"Site-specific" has become a buzzword, but the collaborators saw what they were doing as having a Milwaukee ethos. Since Milwaukee artists have a hard time making a name for themselves, they eliminated labels. Milwaukee is a do-it-yourself town, so the process of making art was emphasized and the product de-emphasized. Since many Milwaukee artists can't make a living selling their art, there was no art for sale. Since Milwaukee has such terrific warehouses, adoration of the space became the highlight of the exhibits.

In 2003, not long after the Historic Third Ward Association could no longer make the building available, Daleiden moved to Los Angeles. Page followed in 2006. Some of the "Rust Spot" artists did installations in the Third Ward's Dye House building in 2002-2003, and MIAD hosted a "Rust Spot Redux" show in 2004. This was the last "Rust Spot" exhibit in Milwaukee.

Daleiden, living in LA with its ferocious focus on galleries and objects, kept an eye out for an opportunity to introduce LA to the "Rust Spot" process "dedicated to studying a site's language to create an indelible bond between the art expression and its location." She started teaching courses for Woodbury University in their exhibition space. Industrial qualities of the storefront gallery with offices and a classroom reminded her of the building in Milwaukee. Daleiden received permission from the university and worked with Page to obtain funding to bring Opgenorth to LA for a month so the trio could collaborate on an exhibition they titled "MKE-LAX: Interrogation by Design," which closed Sunday.

The space they had to work with, the 18-foot-wide and 164-foot-long first floor, contains an ominous and overwhelming presence. Suspended from the ceiling and running the width of the space is the 50-foot long "Pendulum Plane." It is an aluminum armature designed and installed by the Oyler Wu Collaborative.

It can hinge down almost 10 feet. Although not intended to be a spatial imposition by the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Design that held a competition for the piece and shares the building space, it certainly is. Daleiden says, "Woodbury and LA Forum debated whether the work was infrastructural or sculptural."

The threesome's aesthetic, which decentralizes the object, had to contend with this shiny albatross. The entire installation is a playful response to its presence. The trio partially lowered the apparatus and attached utilitarian fluorescent tube lighting with orange cording. They used orange to denote anything joining found objects from the space. The looming hulk is transformed into a clunky chandelier.

In addition, "Pendulum Plane" has a bony anatomy that anyone from Milwaukee would immediately relate to the skeletal Santiago Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum, another example of an architectural structure taking over a place. The trio borrowed objects from the building to form additional backbone structures. Twenty five aqua plastic and metal chairs are stacked upside down on either side of the gallery. In a landing visible above the first floor are three sets of nine wood saw horses. Further back, the collaborators create their own ceiling armature by attaching seven IKEA lounge chairs upside down to the ceiling.

They even poke fun in the bathroom. The doors on the cabinet underneath the sink are open, with black piping gone wild, creating an appendage extending well beyond the sink.

Another crucial element of Milwaukee's installation aesthetic is how artists are always cleaning. For the first "Rust Spot," the artists filled a skid loader dumpster and spent $125 on cleaning supplies. In LA there were 2 closets behind the gallery expanse packed with stuff. The trio emptied them. Open and lighted, they represent the opportunity truly raw interior space provides. When Daleiden met with the two organizations in the building to see what could be done about the clutter, she suggested a rummage sale might be in order. How Milwaukee is that?

A shape that looks like a small letter "i" turned on its side is featured on the press release, the postcard for the show, at the entrance to the gallery space and spray painted in silver on the walls at the back half of the gallery space. The shape is actually a standard cutout for metal studs. The trio installed a set of the found object studs behind the closets toward the back of the first floor. Opgenorth says, "This graphic is an icon denoting industry, utility and a purpose that is hidden. The everyday person never sees these types of shapes."

At the far end of the space, on five white cubes, the trio reveals their process. To make sure no one will think the armature is theirs, a cube has the catalog for "Pendulum Plane" on it. On another are all the varieties of orange joining materials. On another sits a shoebox with the stencil from the studs next to a can of silver spray paint.

As viewers walk through the space, the trio provides visual orientations that question the relationship between exterior and interior, function and design. On the walk back to the front, viewers, fully informed, can interrogate the possibilities of pattern, from the structural to the decorative.

The collaborators hope "Interrogation by Design" will be the start of an "Importing Milwaukee to Los Angeles" series. The show proves the "Rust Spot" process can shine outside the confines of Milwaukee.

Pegi Taylor attended every “Rust Spot” event in Milwaukee and traveled to Los Angeles to see "MKE-LAX: Interrogation by Design," which was on view at Woodbury Hollywood Exhibitions, 6518 Hollywood Blvd. from Jan. 14 to Feb. 14. She is a regular Art City contributor.

About Mary Louise Schumacher

Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. She writes about culture, design, the urban landscape and Milwaukee's creative community. Art City is her award-winning cultural page and a community of more than 20 contributing writers and artists.

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